


The Sketchbook

by han_the_dragon



Series: My OTP is Lin Baefong/Happiness [2]
Category: Avatar: Legend of Korra
Genre: I tried to give this Brooklyn Nine-Nine vibes, Just me having fun with my fav metalbender, This has been in my drafts and I finally finished it, Weird flex but it slightly nods to Spider-Man: Homecoming
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-10-14
Updated: 2020-10-14
Packaged: 2021-03-08 20:34:20
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,642
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27012838
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/han_the_dragon/pseuds/han_the_dragon
Summary: Bolin finds a black notebook on the ground, shenanigans ensue.
Relationships: Lin Beifong/Happiness
Series: My OTP is Lin Baefong/Happiness [2]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1971400
Comments: 3
Kudos: 27





	The Sketchbook

Bolin returned to his desk with the file of the latest suspect brought in when he saw a black notebook laying on the floor.

_Huh._ Picking it up from the floor, he held it over his head as he shouted for the rest of the office. “Hey, guys! Has anybody lost their notebook?”

The three officers who were busy with their own files shook their heads as negative. Bolin hummed again and put the file on his desk to check out the notebook's first page, hoping to find a name behind the cover, but no name was written on either side. He decided to flip through real quick, not reading anything- just to see if it was empty or not.

Bolin let out a loud gasp that made the three officers and Mako, who just entered the room, look at Bolin with a bewildered expression.

“GUYS GUYS GUYS- YOU GOTTA SEE THIS!”

“What is it, bro?” Mako asked, throwing the file in his hand to his own desk beside Bolin’s.

“Someone from this department is an artist _other than me!_ Look at this!” He holds it out for Mako, flipping the pages slowly so he could see the drawings in it. “And I know it’s one of us because there’s a bunch of portraits of us! Look! That’s Opal and me, that’s you, you, me, Saikhan, Saikhan, me, the drunk perp we caught last week, Opal-”

“Yes, I see it, Bolin. Someone likes to draw and lost their sketchbook. Big deal.”

“IT IS! Come on, Mako! Don’t tell me you’re not wondering who they might be! They’re like, _really good_.” Bolin leans in and whispers as if he was telling him a secret. “Look how they drew _you-know-who!_ ”

Mako immediately hushed Bolin and dramatically eyed the empty table across them. “What are you doing, bro?!”

“Oops, sorry,” Bolin grimaced. “But you gotta help me find them!  _ Pleasepleaseplease _ ?”

Sighing, Mako nodded once before going back to his desk. “But not before I finish writing this report, and then you’ll keep your mouth shut about… you know what it is! Understood?”

“Yes, sir,” Bolin saluted before taking his own seat behind his table and pretending to read the file while going through the drawings again.

* * *

“Sooo, he’s not it then…”

“Yep. He said he never met Korra, which is kinda weird since she comes here with or without her free will almost every week.” Bolin bit his pen.

“Ok…” Sakura -Lin’s assistant- scratched her chin as she thought. The way she was sitting on Mako’s desk was really unprofessional. Still, somehow she always got away with things that the rest of them couldn’t. _I don’t have favorites_ , the Chief would say, five minutes after giving Sakura only a little earful for something that would mean a double shift for Bolin. “Hey! Read me the list again, Mako.”

With a sigh, the detective complied with the wishes of the assistant. “You -three times, Bolin -four times, Opal -five times, me -six times, Saikhan -four times and quick sketches of six different suspects that we brought in since last month. The metalbender squad training. Some done and some unfinished doodles of Korra and Asami -the background of one of them looks vaguely like trees and vines. Outside of the station, when street food sellers show up at lunch. Two of an unknown water tribe woman. A fish market, and like- twenty of that unknown cat.”

“Soo, they probably have a cat,” Sakura said. Bolin nodded and Mako let out a _humph_. “Which one of us in this floor has a pet other than Bolin?”

“I think Saikhan have a bird, but other than that, I have no idea,” Mako shrugged.

“Ok, but they must be a detective or at least from the metal squad,” Sakura said. “No one else could’ve seen the criminals and _us_ close enough to draw with this much detail.”

“Yeah, but I’ve heard there were people like super, almost photographic memories that they can draw what they’ve seen only once.” Kaito joined in, another detective who has been listening to their bickering since the launch break and couldn’t bear to hear the list one more time. “Maybe it’s a janitor or something like that with that ability.

“And why would someone with a talent like that be a janitor?”

“I don’t know… Art school is expensive?”

“It is, though,” Bolin said. “What?” he asked under the looks he received. “Opal and I wanted to have a hobby together while she was in the city but those classes were really expensive dude! Even hobby classes!”

Mako rubbed the spot between his eyebrows. “Whatever. I don’t care whoever this sketchbook belongs to. I’m starting to have a headache. Do what you want with it. I’m going out for lunch.”

“But brooo!” Bolin whined after him.

“Don’t ‘brooo’ me!” Mako said without turning back. As he disappeared to the corridor, the officers left behind could’ve sworn he was fuming for real.

Just as the group turned their attention back to the object in Bolin’s hands, a confused voice asked from where Mako went. “What’s up with Mako? He looks like he’s about to put something on fire.”

“He’s just bitter because he’s a terrible art detective,” Sakura said. “Hey, Chief, wanna join us finding the owner of this sketchbook? Bolin found it on the ground an hour ago and we’re still trying to find out whose it is.”

“What sketchbook?” The older woman frowned before seeing it on Bolin’s hands and immediately grabbing it from him. “Give me that! Show me where you found it!”

“On the ground there, ma’am,” Bolin said while pointing at where he found it, slightly frightened why the Chief would get so angry so suddenly.

Lin took a look at the spot and her face softened. Though it only lasted a minute. As if remembering something she missed before, her stern look came back even more furious. “And you haven’t been able to find out whose it is for an hour?”

“Yeah, well,” Sakuro started and scratched behind her head, messing her ponytail a bit. “They must be working here since they were able to draw the criminals and us. They have this really cute fluffy cat because there’s a ton of drawings of it…”

Bolin cut in with enthusiasm. “And they must be close to Korra and Asami too since there are drawings of them too… Which is weird since I can’t think of anyone other than me, Mako and you who's working here and close to them and...”

“Oh wait-” Bolin and Sakuro said at the same time, and now Lin was even more furious if possible.

Putting the book under her arm, Lin started to count with her fingers. “There’s not a single drawing of me in there, most of them are drawn from the perspective of my office, and my cat literally shows up at the door of the building if he feels like it!”

“Wait, that’s _yours?_ ” Sakuro exclaimed, then cringed when Lin turned her burning look to her. Which was rare.

“You know what,” Lin inhales from her nose, and when she speaks again, the calmness of her voice positively freaks out Bolin and Sakuro. “All four of you, _especially_ the three of you, who should be better than this since you are _actual detectives_ , need to brush off your abilities to see the details. Am I wrong?”

“No, ma’am,” all three answered.

“Good,” Lin said and opened the file she’s been holding. Bolin only saw it now, which kinda proved Chief’s point. “This man’s current name is Riku, but he’s been known as many other names and disguises. I want you to take this photo, go to the archives, and scan every single small job file for the last ten years to see if he’s been in any of them. And I mean _all_. Make sure to put them in their right places after you’ve done too.”

“Arrgh, this is worse than having a double shift!” Bolin whined but quickly started to backtrack. “Then again, you’re absolutely right, Chief! Come on, Riku! We have a man to find through ten years' worth of cases!”

Riku followed him with a grunt of regret while grumbling he should’ve never interfered in the first place.

Lin watched them go with her arms crossed but turned back to find Sakuro still sitting on the desk. “Why are you still here?”

“Me? But I’m not a-”

“Yet, you were having an amazing time acting like one until I came along. Why would you miss out on the fun part?”

Under the pressure of Lin’s annoyingly smug but hard look, Sakuro quickly followed the two officers to the archives.

“I’ll send Mako to join you when he comes back. Save some for him too!”

* * *

Mako put a dusty box to a desk with a sneeze that shook his whole body. Grumbling, he opened the lid to see neatly put files inside and took one out from the far end. When the sound of the pen against paper caught his ear, he turned back to talk to see his Chief sitting on an empty desk with her open sketchbook in her lap. “-Ahem. No offense, Chief- But why are you still here?”

Lin looked up from her drawing, her face almost surprised to hear Mako. She had _that_ smile on, and Mako knew she was up to no good.

“Oh, I just like to sketch people in crisis. And despite my job, it’s rare to find so many in the same place.” She held up her sketchbook for Mako to see himself putting pressure between his eyebrows on one side and Sakuro looking like five minutes away from crying on the other.

Though, Mako thought the silent wailing from the aisle next to him sounded more like Bolin’s than hers.

**Author's Note:**

> I had this idea of writing little fics about Lin's life, which we know next to nothing about, and thats why I decided to do this. I like to make my favorite characters as artists in some way or another when I'm writing them, and Lin is no exception.


End file.
